Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

Yesterday we arrived in Tyrrel Bay to be greeted by a whole group of other boats that we met way back in Luperon. Although we all chose different paths/speeds through the Caribbean islands, we all met up here at the same time. Funny. We got together for pizza and beers at the Lazy Turtle and had a good time catching up.

Touring Carriacou

Barb and Chuck ("Tusen Takk II") arranged an island tour today, so we piled into a van along with Nick and Deanna ("Caribbean Soul"), Paul and Ginette ("Sol Magique"), and Jim and Amanda ("Adventure Bound"). Our driver Thomas took us around the island for the next three hours. By now we are used to hearing all the medicinal uses for various plants on these taxi tours, and today was no exception. Sometimes we feel like we've heard it all before already. But today we learned a new one: apparently if you suffer from asthma, you should pour coconut milk into a tall glass and then toss a small lizard in there. Leave him in there to thrash around for 10 minutes (no less!) and then rescue him. Afterwards you can drink the milk when you start having an attack -- supposedly the milk is infused with adrenaline from the lizard's struggling (it's probably got a little lizard pee in there too, for good measure). I'm not sure if you could call it a "cure" but if I had asthma I would probably will my body to stop having attacks just to avoid having to drink the nasty lizard milk concoction. Eww.

Where we are:
Location=Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Lat=12 27.443
Lon=61 29.121

Hillsborough, Carriacou

Kevin in Grenada

As of today we are cleared into Grenada, our home for the next five months. We haven't actually reached the island of Grenada yet; it's still about 30 miles away. But Carriacou (CARRY-a-koo) is part of Grenadian territory. According to our guide books, the name Carriacou is a Carib word meaning "island surrounded by reefs", but I'm pretty sure they must just be making that up because we've already been to lots of islands surrounded by reefs so why aren't they all called Carriacou?

After clearing in with customs & immigration we looked around for the supermarket. We did our last major provisioning in Puerto Rico and we're pretty much out of everything. Our guidebook says that the grocery store here is pretty well-stocked, but we must have hit them on a bad day because there wasn't much out on the shelves. I was hoping to buy some eggs but wasn't able to. Oh the store had plenty of eggs, its just that they are displayed in big flat crates with no lid and I didn't bring a container to put them in! Silly me. One thing we have always been able to find -- no matter how remote or tiny the island -- is Pringles. We rarely see any other American name brand chips, but somehow there is always at least one variety of Pringles available. Although this store didn't have any unsalted butter, cream cheese, or even sandwich bread, they still had four flavors of Pringles: Original, Sour Cream & Onion, Cheddar, and the tastier-than-it-sounds Pizzalicious.

It's pretty quiet here in Hillsborough. When clearing in at Carriacou you are required to anchor here. Most yachts check in here and then immediately head to Tyrrel Bay a few miles south of here. But we're lazy and not in much of a hurry so we'll just stay here tonight and maybe head down that way tomorrow.

Where we are:
Location=Hillsborough, Carriacou
Lat=12 29.182
Lon=61 27.470

Petit St. Vincent - Finders Keepers

New Sunglasses

The last few days were rainy and squally so we just stayed put in Union Island and barely left the boat, actually. Kevin had downloaded a bunch of old arcade games from the internet so we wasted a lot of time playing those. I keep seeing the blocks of "Tetris" falling down in front of my eyes as I try to fall asleep at night. I think that might be a sign to lay off the video games for a while.

We checked out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines this morning and for once the customs officials were not surly! It took us by surprise but the customs agents on Union Island were by far the friendliest we've encountered. The guy made a few jokes and asked us how we were enjoying our Caribbean trip. Then he gave us our clearance and didn't even charge us anything. If only all customs agents could be that nice.

We motored the five or so miles to Petit Martinique (which is actually a part of Grenada) and hit their fuel dock for some diesel, and then we motored half a mile over to Petit St. Vincent (which is still part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines) to anchor, since the holding is better here in soft sand. In fact it's so sandy that there's not much to see while snorkeling, which is why I noticed a pair of sunglasses resting on the bottom in about 8 feet of water. I dove down and when I'd rinsed them off I found out they were Ray Bans without a scratch on them. Cool -- new sunglasses!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Where we are:
Location=Petit St. Vincent, SVG
Lat=12 32.058
Lon=61 23.084

Union Island - A Quiet Week

Windy Day

We've been waiting all week here for two packages to be delivered -- one with two months' worth of mail, and the other with the brushes for the wind generator. As luck would have it, most boats have been stuck where they are due to gusty winds this week, so we probably would've been here a while anyway. But we paid for a week of internet access so it's been nice -- Kevin has been fussing around with the blog and we were also able to check out the news and see what's been going on in the world. By "news" I really just mean "fake news" since Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's "Daily Show" is our go-to source for the top stories. I find the news to be a lot less depressing when they make it look ridiculous. Can't wait for the 2008 election to get into full swing!

Produce Stand

We went into town today for lunch and to hit the produce stand and found both our packages were waiting for us. Of course winds were holding steady at 24 knots as we dinghied back to the boat (a wet ride) so its wasn't ideal conditions for trying out the new brushes on the wind generator. Also we got back just in time to prevent an escape attempt -- the laundry that I'd hung out to dry this morning was struggling to break free of the clothespin shackles. Anyway the wind has calmed down now and Kevin is happily reassembling the wind generator. It looks like the winds might let up a little at the beginning of next week so we'll check out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and head for Grenada.

Union Island - Genset fixed!

[Kevin's Post]The genset lives. I guess we were premature in saying that it was toast. I took a look at it this morning and discovered that the main belt between the diesel engine and the generator had sheared off all its treads and was slipping. It didn't squeal like a slipping belt usually does so I didn't suspect the belt until I saw the mess of shredded rubber under the engine. It made an ungodly noise, we thought the engine was in it's final death throes for sure. Fortunately we had a spare belt, and after an hour of knuckle scraping putting it on, the genset is working fine (for now). I'm not sure what caused the belt to shred, hopefully it was just because it was old. Aren't you glad you don't have to make your own electricity?

Union -- Happy Island

Happy Island

A couple days ago on a whim I gave both Kevin and myself a haircut. Kevin's looks good despite the fact that we could not find the comb and had to make do with a vent brush. No matter, it still ended up looking like a reasonably fashionable hairstyle. Given that Kevin's main accessory is a baseball cap, I think he'll be fine. I was not so kind to myself, since I didn't even bother using the brush and instead just grabbed a fistful of hair as I cut straight across to make some hideous bangs. Hello??!!! What on earth was I thinking? I haven't had bangs since 1989. In retrospect, apparently I was thinking that I wanted to look like the Spaniard in The Princess Bride --- "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya...". Uh-huh, those kind of bangs. Yeah. Cool.

This afternoon we met Mary and Jon from Tabascocat at a very unique bar for happy hour. About five years ago, Janti (a local from Union Island) decided to gather up the refuse of the sea (old conch shells, old tires, etc) and with it he built a conch shell island (held together with cement, of course) just on the edge of Newlands Reef. On top of the artificial island he built "Happy Island", a bar where the drink choices are as follows: rum & coke, rum punch, or beer (if you're lucky and it's cold). We had the misfortune to arrive about three minutes after Janti, so the beer was warm, but he did have ice and he served some pretty strong rum punches and even stronger rum & cokes. We enjoyed our sundowner drinks and had a nice evening watching the sun set.

Union Island, SVG

Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays

Amanda with a starfish

[Kevin's Post]We left the beautiful Tobago Cays this morning after 3 nights and headed a few miles south to Union Island. The Tobago Cays are supposed to the be most popular anchorage in the Caribbean because of the beautiful water and the great snorkeling. Ironically, it looks just like the Bahamas which we left 1000 miles ago. One of the islands here was featured (pictured) in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film where Jack Sparrow was stranded after walking the plank. The whole Tobago Cays ares is a marine park and they charge $10 EC per person per day in order to keep people from staying forever.

Hurricane season officially started about 2 weeks ago, and we are just barely south of the line where our insurance requires us to be -- 12 degrees 40 minutes. We are seeing tropical waves every few days and it rains pretty much every day on us, but only for 5 minutes at a time. So every few hours we have to run around closing all the hatches and ports only to have the sun come out a few minutes later. We have ordered some parts for the wind generator that are being shipped here to Union Island as is our mail. So we'll probably be in the area for at least a week.

Where we are:
Location=Union Island, SVG
Lat=12 35.780
Lon=61 24.831

Tobago Cays

Solstice in the Tobago Cays

Tobago Cays -- Turtles

The wind picked up last night and even though the reefs kind of protect the anchorage from the waves it still was a little bit choppy. A lot of the other boats left, so now there are only 10 boats in the anchorage here. As the afternoon wore on the wind died down a little and the sea calmed down so we lowered the dinghy and went over to the beach. They have the area roped off so that boats don't anchor in the grass where the turtles feed. We snorkeled for an hour and were amazed at how close the turtles would let you get. They must be used to snorkelers by now because they basically ignored us while they munched on the grassy bottom.

We are still eating the mahi that Kevin caught off the coast of the Dominican Republic. We froze a bunch of filets and I think we are down to the last couple. Kevin is firing up the grill as I type. Yum.

Tobago Cays, SVG

You say to-bay-go, I say to-bah-go...seriously I have no idea which one is right; I've heard locals pronounce it both ways. The Tobago Cays are one of the most popular spots in the Caribbean for cruisers. They are a group of uninhabited islands that are surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped coral reef. We anchored in a sandy patch within a stone's throw of some big coral heads. Standing on the bow, we can see waves breaking on the reef just a few hundred feet away. We did a bit of snorkeling and saw a good variety of fish -- including a ray (not sure what type) that kind of followed us around for a bit, until Kevin tried to video it. As soon as the camera was rolling it swam away. The water here is really shallow, only about 8 feet deep so most of the time we swam around patches of coral that nearly skimmed the surface. Viewed from the boat, the brown patches of coral really stand out from the shallow turquoise waters.

In other news, our diesel generator has kicked the bucket. It is pushing up daisies. It has moved on to greener pastures. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-genset. Yesterday while we were running the air conditioning Kevin noticed the generator's voltage output dropping from 120 (normal) to around 100 (too low to run most appliances). So he turned the AC off and the voltage shot back up to normal. So he turned it on again and a god-awful noise started coming from the generator compartment. The diesel engine was shaking and rattling so much you could feel it throughout the boat. We are not sure what is wrong, just that the generator cannot handle any kind of load. So no more air conditioning or washing machine or even charging the batteries. Sigh. The AC and washer/dryer are luxuries, but not being able to charge up the batteries is the real problem since our wind generator isn't working either. So the batteries only get charged when the sun is out or we are motoring between islands. We've been having a few cloudy days here and there so I am crossing my fingers for more sun.

Where we are:
Location=Tobago Cays, SVG
Lat=12 37.741
Lon=61 21.345

New Photos

Hey guys, we have posted a few new photos. Some are in the blog, but if you click on the "Recent Photo Slideshow" link you can see them all.

Bequia - Dive Adventure

Kevin in Bequia

We've been quite the social butterflies the past week. Seems almost every night we have had people over to our boat for dinner or happy hour, or have met someone ashore for dinner and drinks, or have gone to someone else's boat. Last night our friend Mary made a fantastic lasagna and we joined up with Dave & Sue on Pirates Hideout to spend the evening on Mary & Jon's boat, Tabascocat. We had a fantastic time with those two couples and since we're all stuck here until the weather lets up (it's been blowing hard and outside the harbor the waves are pretty rough) we'll probably all get together again sometime this week.

Bequia Coral

We did a two tank dive this morning. Most of the dive sites in Bequia are too far to get to by dinghy so we made the decision to go with a dive shop that had been recommended to us. Laury from Bequia Dive Adventures arrived right on time to pick us up at the boat. Judging from the waves crashing on the rocks along the shore as we pulled up to the dive site, we're glad we didn't attempt it in the dinghy -- conditions were too rough even for the Beast. The first dive, called the Boulders, was really cool. There was so much going on I didn't know where to look. It's the kind of dive you wish you could do three or four times in a row, so you can spend time hovering and watching the minute details of the sea life. The second dive was a drift dive which is where the boat drops you off in one place and then the current propels you forward and the boat picks you up downstream at the end of the dive. It was kind of cool to just be pushed along by Mother Nature (kind of like being on an undersea people mover) but it was a little hard to maintain control and I kept bumping into Kevin's fins and getting kicked in the head! So it took me the better part of the dive just to learn how to slow myself down. But once I did I was able to take some photos (I was carrying the camera for the first time ever) and I also managed to snap the rare photo of Kevin in his scuba gear.

Scuba Videos from Bequia

Bequia turtle sanctuary

Baby turtles at the Bequia turtle sanctuary

posted by SSB

Bequia - Turtle Sanctuary

Turtle Sanctuary

"Pirates Hideout" and "Tabascocat" had arranged an island taxi tour and were kind enough to invite us along. Bequia is not that big, only seven square miles, and our driver Gideon said that the tour would take no more than three hours. Our first stop was the Hamilton Battery. "Battery" is just a fancy way of saying "fort" and you know how we feel about forts. But there were great views of the harbor and we snapped some good photos of all the boats at anchor. Other stops included an old sugar mill that has been turned into a pottery studio/art gallery, a hip beach bar called Moskito (the seats at the bar are all wooden swing chairs hanging from the ceiling), and a walk along the beach near the tiny, tiny airport. The runway is so short that they had to put the landing lights out in the water on tall telephone poles.

Turtle Video

Our favorite stop was the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. It's run by a retired fisherman whose life's mission is to rescue the endangered Hawksbill turtle from extinction. The hawksbills lay their eggs on a nearby beach and when they hatch he brings some of the babies to the sanctuary where they spend the first four years of their life safe from fisherman and predators. Once they are big enough to fend for themselves, he releases them. The sanctuary itself is kind of a big barn with several large pools of turtles grouped by age (there was even a bowl containing an itty-bitty baby that was only 3 weeks old. So cute!). There were about 200 turtles in all, including an eleven-year-old (they can live to more than 100 years old) that the owner keeps as a pet. She loves to have her back scratched and when I reached down to pet her she was so happy that she started splashing her flippers against the side of the pool. We really enjoyed the place. Considering that turtles are overfished and many are killed before they reach breeding age (25 years old) it is inspiring that one guy is doing what he can to make a difference. (Any animal lovers should stop reading here.)

On the other side of the spectrum is the whaling station. A handful of Caribbean islands still allow whaling in their waters and Bequia is one of them. However they are allowed to take only four per year during the months of February to April. This year they only got one, a humpback. The interesting thing is that they hunt the whales traditionally, in small open sailboats with harpoons thrown by hand. When they have the whale they tow it behind their boats back to the whaling station, where they process it for use by the islanders. We didn't tour the whaling station because it is located on a small cay only accessible by boat. Gideon's father used to go on the whaling trips so he was very informative about it.

Bequia - Mexican Standoff

Walk down the aisles of any grocery store in the States and you will find tortillas. Maybe they'll be by the bread or in the ethnic foods section; you might have to look hard but you'll find them. But the last 3 or 4 countries we've been through seem to never have heard of tortillas. I thought we had plenty in the freezer so on impulse I invited two other couples over to the boat for enchiladas without double-checking. Lesson 1: always check the inventory. Lesson 2: you can't make enchiladas without tortillas. But apparently you CAN make tortillas, according to my standby cookbook "How to Cook Everything". You don't even need a fancy machine like they have at Chevy's (although it helps). Of course the main ingredient is lard (didn't have any of that on board) and it is helpful to have a rolling pin to make them nice and thin (didn't have one of those either), and it's also time-consuming (you can only make them one at a time if you haven't got a big griddle) but they turned out somewhat resembling tortillas. Actually they were more like large round crackers. Ole!

The next step was to acquire some fresh veggies for the enchilada sauce. Bequia has a local farmer's market so we headed there to load up. We walked in and were immediately accosted by the absolute pushiest vendors we've ever seen anywhere. I started to buy things from the least pushy lady but while I was talking to her I was just surrounded by guys trying to get me to buy pineapples, mangoes, passionfruit and everything except the ingredients I needed for enchiladas. Not sure how it happened but somehow Kevin and I got separated (we were the ONLY customers in the marketplace with a dozen vendors working us both over). I look up and I see that Kevin is trying to make his way back to me but a really persistent man won't let him through. Kevin got pretty angry and I honestly thought it was going to come to blows as Kevin kept forcefully saying "I'm just trying to get back to my wife!". They were relentless, but we managed to get everything we needed. So all the ingredients came together and the meal turned out well. We spent a nice evening with the two couples from the other Mantas ("Pirates Hideout" and "Tabascocat").

Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG

Well we are now in St. Vincent & the Grenadines (mmmm...grenadine) which is one country made up of many islands. We skipped the main and largest island of St. Vincent and instead are anchored in the charming island of Bequia. Three guesses as to how it's pronounced. Nope. Wrong. Try again. Give up? Okay, it's BECK-way. From St. Lucia on out the primary language is English so I am at a loss to explain this bizarre pronunciation. Bequia is a haven for traveling yachts with lots of boat services and plenty of restaurants. It's kind of a velcro harbor -- easy for yachts to stick to it. We've already run into several boats we know here so we may stay awhile, too.

Where we are:
Location=Bequia, SVG
Lat=13 00.161
Lon=61 14.637

The Pitons, St. Lucia

posted by SSB

St. Lucia - The Pitons

We motorsailed a few miles south to Soufriere (I know, I know, ALL the islands have at least one town called Soufriere. When naming things, the French weren't very imaginative. There are tons of "soufrieres" meaning "sulfur" and even more "basse-terres" meaning "low ground".) Soufriere is one of St. Lucia's marine management areas where they are trying to protect and conserve the natural resources. We picked up a park mooring (no anchoring allowed, but the mooring was screwed into the bottom - yay!) and were able to find some fabulous snorkeling right off the boat -- a huge variety of coral and all kinds of fish activity. We actually saw a couple of eels slithering around foraging for food instead of hiding in their holes. All of this within the shadow of St. Lucia's most well-known landmark, the Pitons. These are twin 2500 foot peaks that rise up out of the water like pillars; very tall, very steep. As we were approaching by sea, we had a magnificent view of the mountains in all their glory. Not sure the photos do it justice though.

Where we are:
Location=Soufriere, St. Lucia
Lat=13 51.385
Lon=61 04.063

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We love the French attitude towards customs and the formalities. It never costs a penny to clear in or out, and most of the time they just barely glance at your passport, if at all. Yesterday the customs "officer" (a ponytailed older guy running the fuel dock at the marina in Anse Mitan) had us fill out a blank form that had already been signed. Once we filled it out, he put the date next to his signature and we were ready to go. He was a cool guy, though. When he was looking at our passports he noticed Illinois and Arizona and said that he'd been to both places while on a trip across the US on old route 66. He said it was one of his top trips ever but that next time he would do it on a 'arley (French pronunciation of Harley).

Today we arrived in St. Lucia (LOO-sha) in the afternoon and headed over to the marina to clear in. We saw a Manta at the dock and went over to say hello, their boat is a little older than ours but they've been living on it for 5 years now. After chatting a bit we headed over to the supermarket which is in a really great outdoor shopping mall. We had heard mixed reviews from other cruisers about St. Lucia so we weren't sure what to expect, but judging from the nice stores and fabulous homes (they look like they were transplanted from Palm Beach, FL) Rodney Bay seems like a decent spot. We won't be here long, though. Tomorrow morning we'll fuel up with diesel and move on to the south part of the island.

Where we are:
Location=Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Lat=14 04.620
Lon=60 57.462

Anse Mitan, Martinique

posted by SSB

Anse Mitan, Martinique

We haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing over the past couple of days. But while we were in St. Pierre we ran into Barb and Chuck on Tusen Takk. We had met them in Luperon, DR and saw them again in the BVI's. So we got together for drinks and walked around ashore a bit. Then on Tuesday we motorsailed down the coast to Anse Mitan, which is a great anchorage with a sandy beach. We look over and two boats away is Sol Magique, another couple we met in Luperon. So we had Paul and Ginette over for dinner and caught up on what they'd been up to since we last saw them in St. Martin.

We think we'll just hang out here and be lazy for a few days. Anse Mitan is a touristy resort area and the beach here is really nice. There are supposed to be a lot of nice restaurants and shops so we'll look around a bit.

Where we are:
Location=Anse Mitan, Martinique
Lat=14 33.686
Lon=61 03.195

Martinique -- The Next Jerry Lewis

On the way to Martinique this morning we got hit by the wave from hell. It wasn't a particularly big wave or anything, just a case of bad timing. We were sailing along great at 8 knots. As we approached the island of Martinique we were in a trough when the next wave broke over the side deck. A big wall of water came crashing through the cockpit, soaking everything including us. Usually we have waves coming over the bow but they rarely reach the cockpit, so this was a little scary (note to our parents: we weren't in any danger, don't worry). The only bad thing is that now our cockpit seat cushions are encrusted with salt, so we'll be washing down the boat tomorrow. Other than that it was a pretty great sail and we arrived in St. Pierre in the early afternoon. Customs was located in a bar (first time we've seen that!) so we ordered two Lorraines (local beer) while we filled out the clearance paperwork.

Seems like whenever we first arrive in a country it is either a holiday or a Sunday and everything is closed. Being Sunday today was no exception but we did manage to find a little pizza place on the beach that was open. Martinique is another Overseas Department of France and here almost everyone speaks French exclusively and it is hard to find someone who speaks English -- even more so than in Guadeloupe. But the pizzeria owner was a nice older gentleman and was tickled that I was making an attempt to speak his language. When we were in Puerto Rico, I had a sort of joke for when I told people we lived on a boat. I told them Kevin was the captain and since I didn't know the word for "crew" I said I was the "team". Not super funny but enough to get a polite chuckle. So I figured out a similar word for "team" in French when I was telling the owner about the boat. He laughed so much that on the way home I started to doubt that I was using the right word. I looked it up and sure enough I was telling people that Kevin was the boat's captain and I was the baggage. No wonder the guy was laughing so hard. Apparently in French I am hi-larious.

Where we are:
Location=St. Pierre, Martinique
Lat=14 44.453
Lon=61 10.668

Roseau - High Times

Sari Sari Falls

Yeah mon. So today we swam under two spectacular waterfalls, ate almost every fruit that grows on the island, and probably got a contact high hanging out with Rastafarians. Where to begin?

Our adventure began around 9 am when we started a tour with Sea Cat. His real name is Octavius and he's being doing guided tours for 17 years. We weren't able to find anyone else interested in a tour so it was just the three of us. Our plan was to hike Victoria Falls and Sari Sari Falls, both on the eastern side of the island. On the way Sea Cat kept pulling over to the side of the road, bringing samples of all the stuff growing by the roadside. We had some fresh coconut milk and a guava in the morning, and had papaya, mango, cherries, and passionfruit for our afternoon snack. He also brought bayleaves, lemongrass, and the bark of the cinnamon tree as well as showing us how cashews grow (a huge red fruit with a single tiny cashew growing out of one end). We also made a quick stop in a small village known for its moonshine. Sea Cat bought a round of shots for us and the several local alcoholics already hanging out at the bar. It was strong stuff for 10 am but the locals got a kick out of watching us tourists take a shot, make a face, and take a sip of water.

hanging roots

When we arrived at the Victoria Falls trailhead, we stopped to visit Sea Cat's friend Moses, a Rastafarian who is sort of like a high priest. Moses was hanging out in a kitchen-type outbuilding with several other Rastas just chilling and smoking the fattest joints I have ever seen (we are talking the size of cigars). The conversation was lively and animated, they were talking about how they want the government to stop the use of pesticides in the agriculture here. At least that's what I think they were talking about -- a lot of Dominicans speak superfast to each other using the local dialect so we don't always understand every word but usually we get the gist. Those of you with a good grasp of irony will appreciate this: when one of the other rasta men heard that Sea Cat had drunk a shot of moonshine with us, he warned him very sternly "Moonshine? Bad stuff...don't you be drinking and driving, mon!" as he handed him a freshly rolled spliff which Sea Cat proceeded to blaze up. We didn't partake but it was cool to see a part of Rastafarian culture. There's much more to it than Bob Marley music and pot, more about that later.

Rainforest Hike

The hike to Victoria Falls was a good workout; we crossed the river several times on the trail up and scrambled over huge boulders on our way to the pool. As we swam in the pool it was actually hard to see because the force of the waterfall made it feel like we were getting hit with a firehose. But with Sea Cat's help we managed to work our way behind the waterfall to see the water cascading all around us. Pretty cool. After the hike Moses made us an ital soup for lunch with leeks, dasheen, potatoes, cabbage and I don't know what all. (Although some Rastas eat fish, Moses is vegan.) It was surprisingly good, and he served it in bowls made of fired calabash gourd and the spoons as well were made from slices of calabash. The Rastafarians believe that the body is a temple, and ital means a natural and sane way of life. As part of ital the food rastans eat must be as natural and pure as possible with no preservatives or chemicals. Even the ganja is ital -- it is supposed to be purer, finer, and stronger than the Mexican marijuana you find at, say, your local college campus.

Sari Sari video

We got another great workout hiking up and down the steep steps to Sari Sari falls. It was like doing a stairmaster through the rainforest for an hour there and back. But the waterfall was worth it. We've done several waterfall hikes while we've been here, and the great thing about them is you get to cool off in the pool below. We'll take a waterfall hike over a fort any day.

Roseau, Dominica

We had originally planned to head down to the capital Roseau yesterday, but we felt a little lazy. So instead Kevin changed the oil in the engines and we took a walk around Fort Shirley in Cabrits National Park. (I know, I know we keep saying "no more forts" but another cruiser was adamant that we should check it out). Half of the fort is being beautifully restored while the other half has been left to the forest, with huge ficus trees growing out of the limestone fortifications and everything overgrown with vines. It was an interesting contrast and a nice walk through the forest followed by a relaxing evening before setting out this morning for the 20 mile trip to Roseau.

So tonight we are sitting once again on a mooring. I know some of you are thinking "Are they crazy, after what happened in Saba?" You would think that with our luck we would avoid moorings like the plague, and trust me we tried. When we first got to the anchorage, a boat boy named "Roots" came out to greet us and offered us his mooring. We asked him what was holding it and he said "A huge concrete block. Dis mooring ain't go nowhere, mon." At first we told him we'd think about it and we motored around the anchorage looking for a shallow spot to drop the hook. But the depths were ranging from 70 to 170 feet -- we don't have enough chain to anchor in water that deep! Roots' mooring was really close to shore, in only about 25 feet, so we radioed him back & told him we'd take it. Kevin dove on it and with him watching the mooring I backed down on our engines at 1600 rpm just as we would to set our own anchor. The mooring didn't drag, so we think we'll be okay here.

We took a quick look around town and took care of business with customs. (We have to clear in/out of every port. The bureaucracy in former British colonies is merciless. God only knows what they do with the multiple carbon copies of everything. Not a computer to be seen.) We also had a chance to hit the local farmers market and loaded ourselves up with mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes. Its kind of odd that we actually bought mangoes since they grow everywhere and had fallen all along the streets and sidewalks on our way to and from the market. But at less than twenty cents apiece (in US$) I probably can't complain. Quick price comparison: anyone know what they cost back in the states at Fry's?

Where we are:
Location=Roseau, Dominica
Lat=15 17.242
Lon=61 22.621

Portsmouth - Waterfalls and Sulfur Springs

Trafalgar Falls

We didn't do much on Tuesday. We had planned a tour of the north part of the island, but the other couple canceled and we didn't want to pay the full price of hiring a cab for the day. We were a bit disappointed but we went to drown our sorrows at Big Poppa's bar, hoping to meet up with some other cruisers and try to arrange a tour for Wednesday. Big Poppa himself was there, a large black guy who missed his calling as a standup comedian. He had a whole spiel of jokes and we didn't mind laughing since he gave us a round of rum punches on the house. For our entertainment he also rapped a few bars of Notorious B.I.G. "Big Poppa...I love it when you call me big poppa..." to my delight.

We found a big group going on a tour the next day and were invited to tag along. So Wednesday we left around 8am and headed to the southern part of the island with our cab driver Caesar (a nickname, his given name is Julius). Dominica has nine potentially active volcanoes and there is evidence of activity all over the island. We first stopped at some hot springs with two small pools steadily burping out the sulfur. The water was too hot to touch. It was stinky but cool to see. Our next stop was Trafalgar Falls, a double waterfall where two rivers meet and merge. The upper falls plunge 200 feet down the rock face and the lower fall is slightly smaller but more accessible. We had to scramble over boulders for a good 20 minutes to get to the base of the second fall but it was well worth it. We swam in the frigid water and some of our group were even able to climb a little ways up the waterfall itself. When we returned down the trail we found a small hot pool about the size of a hot tub so we all piled in and relaxed for a little while before heading out.

Video of Champagne

We stopped for a local lunch and along with rice and beans we had plantain, dasheen (taro root), and a choice of pork or curried goat. The meal was excellent and so was the price: 15 Eastern Caribbean dollars, or about $5.50 a person including your choice of Kubuli beer or fresh local passionfruit juice. After lunch we explored some more hot springs and then went for a snorkel at Soufriere Bay, a curvy bay that is the rim of a sunken volcanic crater. As we were snorkeling we could see more signs of volcanic activity as thousands of tiny bubble streams burbled up from the sand below us (which is how the site earned the name Champagne). We finally arrived back to Portsmouth around 5:30 and all ten of us got together for drinks and to share digital photos.

It was a late night, and we had originally intended to head back to Big Poppa's for reggae night since we thought there would be life music. But we were too tired so we headed back to the boat. As it turns out we didn't need to go to the bar, since the music was so loud you could hear it throughout the anchorage. And I was reassured that we weren't missing out on any live performances once they started playing Bob Marley tracks.

Editorial Note

Despite being a third-world country, Dominica has first-rate internet. We have posted some more photos, you'll see them if you click on the "Recent Photos Slideshow" link to the left.

Also, remember that really bizarre fish we saw back in Statia? I found out what it's called: a flying gurnard. Check out this link to see one for yourself, or look up "flying gurnard" on google images. Creepy, huh? Flying Gurnard

Portsmouth, Dominica

Dominica's Flag

We arrived in Dominica (dom-in-EEK-uh) on Sunday afternoon, after a quick 22 mile passage from Iles des Saintes. Being Sunday, customs was closed but we decided to go ashore and check things out. This is definitely a poor country, on par with the Dominican Republic as far as open gutters in the roads, clapboard houses with tin roofs, etc. But the natural beauty is pretty astounding, more about that later. We headed into a bar called "Big Poppa's" where we had some Kubuli beers and booked a River Tour for the next morning. Dominica is the first place outside of the Dominican Republic where we've really seen a lot of boat boys. Although they are called "boat boys" they are actually grown men whose business is to help the cruisers out by operating as a water taxi, bringing diesel and water to the boat, arranging tours, or just anything in general that you might need while you're in port. They can be pretty aggressive sometimes; we saw one boat anchoring this morning and there were no less than four guys in brightly painted wooden boats hovering around it asking if they needed any services. (Some of the "boat boys" don't even have boats: a few hours ago we bought a bunch of bananas from a guy paddling around the anchorage on an old surfboard.) When we got here yesterday we knew we didn't need any help with diesel or anything, but we did want to do a couple of tours, especially of the Indian River. Some cruisers we met in St. Kitts had recommended Albert, so that's who we made arrangements with while we were at Big Poppa's.

Albert on the Indian River

The Indian River got its name because many Carib Indians once lived along its banks. They have since moved (or been relocated) to the Carib territory on the Eastern side of the island. The river is protected by law, no outboard engines are allowed, and you can only go through it with an accredited guide. So this morning with Albert at the oars (you should see this guy's arms) we headed up the river. Several scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 were filmed along the river's swampy banks (you'll see it in the scenes from the witch's house), and Albert pointed the spots out to us since he helped ferry gear up the river during filming. After several "guided" trips on other islands where the guy didn't do much other than point out the obvious ("there's the ocean...that's a Baptist Church...this is a really old bridge") it was refreshing to have a true guide -- enthusiastic and knowledgeable, with 20 years experience of showing tourists his country. He knew the local and common names of all the flora and fauna on the banks, and he made it a point to look for hard-to-spot iguanas and birds and make sure we were able to see them. The greenery was spectacular with all the ferns and vines and big twisty tree roots, and there were little splashes of color as well -- yellow and red hibiscus, alongside bright green iguanas and hummingbirds.

Indian River Trees

We stopped for a drink upriver where an enterprising guy was working on building a bar in the middle of the forest to cater to the river tour crowd. The bar isn't finished yet, but in the meantime he sells soda and beer out of a cooler. The soda vendor was a well-spoken guy who gave us some insight into the politics of the country. His main complaint/idea was that although the country is poor, they don't lack for food during the growing season. Food is so plentiful that they have a huge surplus of oranges, mangoes, grapefruits, bananas, etc, even more than they can export. But he can't understand why the government doesn't put in a cannery so that they can preserve their orange juice, fruits, etc instead of having to pay through the nose for imported canned goods in the off season. It was an interesting discussion. I told the guy he should run for office but apparently there's pretty much one family with a lock on the political power in this part of the country so I guess he'll just remain a visionary who's stuck selling sodas.

Anyway, Albert brought us back to the boat and we invited him aboard for a beer and a snack. He was telling us that recently he has moved away from town to a beautiful spot by a lagoon where he can enjoy the peace and quiet and natural surroundings. He kept using the expression "I recently moved my house" and finally I asked him if he meant that literally. Yes, he said. He didn't load the whole thing on a truck, like some do, but he used all the materials from the old house to build part of a new bigger house. His new house is about 1200 square feet with three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen, while his old house was 12 feet by 16 feet (for the mathematically challenged, that's just 192 square feet). I will think about that next time I feel that the boat is too confining.



Where we are:
Location=Portsmouth, Dominica
Lat=15 34.987
Lon=61 27.836

Iles des Saintes

We spent the whole day yesterday working on the bimini repair. Had to literally tear the boat apart; we took off the ceiling liner in the main salon, and had to completely disassemble both the closets to get the supports bolted on properly. But today we motorsailed into the wind with some light choppy waves and the fix held together just fine. So now that that particular fire is out we have a pool going on what will break next. Anyone want to get in on the action?

We are now anchored in the town of Le Bourg on one of the islands that is part of the Iles des Saintes (eel day saint). It's a small group of islands between Guadaloupe and Dominica but it is still part of Guadaloupe/France. The town here is very touristy; there are day trip ferries that come over from Guadaloupe. We liked walking up and down the main street and looking for bargains. Unfortunately the currency in all the French islands is the Euro, so our dollar doesn't go as far as it does in some of the other countries. Despite that fact, we still rank Guadaloupe pretty high up the list of our favorite places we've been so far. There's a little of everything here -- cosmopolitan areas, scenic hiking, pretty beaches, and picturesque farmland. And the people here have been amazingly friendly and receptive to us, even though we don't speak the language well and they have to repeat things four times or use exaggerated pantomimes to get the point across. We're a little sad to be leaving after only a few days here. We would've liked to explore a little more but some of you might have heard that they had the first named storm of the season this week (subtropical storm Andrea). So we are eager to keep moving south to Grenada, where we plan to hole up for hurricane season.

Where we are:
Location=Iles des Saintes
Lat=15 52.046
Lon=61 35.158

Guadaloupe - Mr. Hardware

We got to the car rental place early, and despite the language barrier (so far no one says "yes" when I ask if they speak English) we managed to get one of the last available cars. We had two missions: 1. see some cool waterfalls in the rainforest, and 2. get the nuts and bolts we needed for fixing the bimini.

When Kevin was looking at the bimini problem, he discovered that the two main front support posts were only held on by 3 tapping screws each. No bolts or backing plates, just some really short screws barely penetrating the fiberglass. We're just surprised the thing didn't fall apart sooner. It looks like the manufacturer had fiberglassed some nuts into the hull, so at one time maybe the thing was put together properly, but Kevin guessed that somehow it had broken once before and the previous owner just drilled through the glassed-in nuts and put in screws instead of bolts. So because someone did a half-assed job of fixing it last time, it is up to us to full-assed fix it. But to do it, we needed to buy some really big washers and some longer bolts than we have in our toolkit. So, armed with my "French for Cruisers" book, we headed off in search of the "magasin de bricolage" (hardware store). Of course no one knew of one nearby, the three local people we asked directed us to Destreland which is in the middle of the island near Pointe a Pitre, their biggest city. Once we got close, we pulled in at a Shell station where I proceeded to go through an old Abbot and Costello routine with the clerk. Roughly translated, the conversation went something like this:
Me: Good day, sir. We look for a store of hardware, to buy something like this. (Holds up nut and bolt)
Him: Yes. Go straight and it is near the Carrefour.
Me: Thank you. Please you will write the name of the store for me?
Him: (something I didn't catch) hardware store.
Me: Yes, I understand it is hardware store, but what is the name of it?
Him: (mumble) hardware store.
Me: No, I need the name of the store, please.
Finally another guy steps in and enunciates very clearly "Monsieur Bricolage". Aha! The name of the store is "Mr. Hardware Store"! Easy enough. We find the place and of course they only carry metric hardware (damn you, imperial system!) but we find some bolts that will work. We also find a huge mall, as nice as Scottsdale Fashion Square, and have lunch. Then, off to the rainforest.

The rainforest in Guadaloupe is absolutely breathtaking. Huge canopy trees with ferns, bromeliads, orchids, and massive elephant ear plants with leaves shaped like...well, I guess the name is pretty self-explanatory. The 30 minute hike to the waterfall was enjoyable, we were up so high that we were actually in a cloud and the moisture just hung in the air. The waterfall was about 300 feet tall, people were swimming in the pool below. Our guidebook says that swimming here can give you bilharzia, which is some kind of infection carried by snails, so we took a pass on the swim.

Guadeloupe Waterfalls

Deshaies, Guadaloupe

Our journey this morning took us past some spectacular views of the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat; there were several fissures in the mountainside with smoke and ash billowing out of them. And even from two miles away, we were able to see the remains of the airport and several buildings partially buried beneath the debris. Hopefully our photos will do the scene justice. When we cleared into Guadaloupe, I got to practice my high school French by asking a helpful local guy to give us directions to the customs office. I'm just glad the customs building ended up being on the right-hand-side of the street because I can only remember the French word for "right"; I wouldn't recognize the word "left" if it walked up and started dancing the can-can. By the way, the name of the country is pronounced the French way, GWAD-eh-loop, not the Spanish/Mexican/Arizonan way, gwad-uh-LOO-pay. Also the French have a rule about pronouncing as few consonants as possible, so the name of the town is actually day-HAY. All together now: Deshaies, Guadaloupe. Just say it with an outrrrageous Frrench accent, and it'll sound about right.

On the way over to Guadaloupe, we observed how a small problem can develop into a much bigger one. Yesterday in Montserrat we noticed that two of the screws holding our bimini (roof over the cockpit) had pulled loose and one had sheared off. We put off doing anything about it because it will be kind of a big job to fix, and we were leaving the next day. So Kevin re-tightened the two screws that were loose and we hoped for the best. Well, on our passage this morning, the screws pulled out again and although the bimini is attached in seven other places, it began swaying slightly. Not good. Especially since a part of the mainsail attaches to the bimini structure and with the sail up the whole structure is under a lot of stress. We could see that one of the other attachment points was taking the full load and the screws holding it were about to go too, so we took the sail down and motored the rest of the way. So I guess we've got a new project to work on.

Where we are:
Location=Deshaies, Guadaloupe
Lat=16 18.460
Lon=61 47.825

Montserrat - Kevin vs. the Volcano

When Soufriere Hills volcano erupted back in 1995, it completely destroyed the southern half of Montserrat. This afternoon as we approached the island, we could see the green rolling hillside of the north and in the background was the barren brown wasteland of the Exclusion Zone (that's what they call it -- no one is allowed to go there). The volcano itself is still belching ash daily into the sky, and tomorrow when we continue southbound we have to pass the island on the windward side so that our boat doesn't get covered in ash. We also have to stay at least 2 miles offshore as they have set up a maritime exclusion zone around the southern half of the island. But life goes on and people have resettled on the northwest coast out of range of the volcano. We are only planning on staying here overnight and aren't even planning on going ashore. But shhh...don't tell customs and immigration. We're supposed to clear in and out of each country but it is Sunday and it's not worth paying the overtime fees to be here less than 24 hours.

Where we are:
Location=Rendezvous Bay, Montserrat
Lat=16 48.523
Lon=62 12.416

Pinney's Beach, Nevis

[Kevin's Post]Oops, I accidently typed in the wrong longitude in our last post, so this post has the corrected location for those of you following us with Google Earth. Last night we dinghied over to a nearby beach bar that seemed lively with christmas lights strung up and quite a few people at the tables. Beaching 'The Beast' is always a challenge since it is so heavy. Our dinghy weighs about twice what the typical dinghy does. The beach was pretty steep, but luckily there was a guy walking down the beach who helped us pull it up. There was quite a bit of surf so we wanted to be sure it was far enough up the beach that it wouldn't get swamped. We had a nice dinner of burgers and beers before we surrendered to the mosquitos and called it a night. This morning, we went to town to clear out with customs. Every island we go to we have to clear in and out with customs and immigration the same as if you were traveling by plane. It can be a royal pain sometimes, first you have to figure out where to go, then you have to figure out what their hours are. Our guidebooks are pretty good about telling us where to go, but usually way off on the hours. We tried to clear out on Friday since we are leaving on Sunday and we thought they were closed on the weekends. Turns out they are open, so they made us come back today since you have to leave within 24 hours of clearing out. And of course we had to pay 10 bucks to leave the country. Tomorrow we leave Nevis for Montserrat. It will be about a 35 mile trip.

Where we are:
Location=Pinneys Beach, Nevis
Lat=17 08.918
Lon=62 37.765

At anchor in Nevis

posted by SSB

Pinney's Beach, Nevis

[Kevin's Post]We left the anchorage at Basseterre yesterday after two very rolly nights and moved down the coast a few miles to a place called White House Bay. We were very happy to be in a flat anchorage for the first time since leaving St. Maarten. Saba and Statia both were pretty uncomfortable, and Basseterre wasn't much better. White House Bay was just right. We spent the day doing some boat chores, we defrosted the freezer using a bucket of water and a spare bilge pump to melt the ice. Amanda did some cleaning inside the boat and I attempted to clean the rust stains off the deck where we worked on the genset. There were little flecks of rust that came off the genset during the week we had it sitting up on deck and the wind blew them all over the port deck. And then it rained. So the boat has these red spots everywhere that have been driving me nuts. Acid cleans them right off, and at this point I've managed to clean up about half the mess. After our chores, we did a little snorkeling. White House Bay has an interesting wreck in shallow water that according to one of our books is from 1799. It didn't look quite that old, but it was a pretty cool snorkel regardless with a wide variety of fish.

After one night at White House Bay, we moved on to Nevis and anchored off Pinney's Beach just south of the Four Seasons resort. This is a beautiful palm tree lined beach that stretches for 3 miles on the west coast of Nevis. This is exactly what we have been imagining the caribbean would be like. Nevis is another volcano island with a tall volcanic mountain at its center. We wandered around Charlestown for a bit and visited the Nevis museum which happens to be in the house where Alexander Hamilton was born. We ate lunch at a local cafe and then took a quick island tour in one of the taxis. We visited the Botanical Gardens of Nevis which is a 7 acre garden displaying all kinds of tropical plants and flowers. We also stopped by the Montpelier Estate which is an old sugar cane plantation which has been converted to a hotel. The old sugar mill is now used as a room for their restaurant. After our touring we headed back to the boat to cool off with a swim.

Where we are:
Location=Pinneys Beach, Nevis
Lat=17 08.918
Lon=62 32.765

St. Kitts & Nevis

We arrived in St. Kitts and Nevis (rhymes with "Beavis". Heh-heh.) yesterday afternoon. We had to go to three places to clear in with customs, immigration, and the port authority but once we were finished we had a little while to walk around Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts. (It's a two-island nation; the island of Nevis has its own capital that we'll visit in a few days.) We had a beer on the terrace at Ballyhoo pub overlooking the Circus (main roundabout/square in town) and discovered a new favorite beer -- Skol, brewed locally here on St. Kitts. We also arranged a taxi tour for the following day to take us around the island.

This morning as we hopped in the dinghy to head into town we realized that there was a big cruise ship (the Queen Elizabeth 2) unloading passengers. It turns out our taxi driver "forgot" that he already had a cruise ship tour booked, so we were left to our own devices to find a taxi tour. It wasn't too hard, apparently every taxi driver in the country was at the main dock looking for passengers and offering cutthroat rates. We selected one and off we went.

There is one main highway that goes in a loop around the island and every tour stops at the same three sights so we couldn't quite shake the crowds. The first stop, Romney Manor, was really cool. It was part of the Wingfield Estate, which was once owned by Sam Jefferson whose claim to fame is that his great-grandson went on to become a fairly prominent politician and writer (although some might find his writing a little dry). You might know him; his name was Thomas? Anyway, although Romney manor house is no longer standing the grounds have been turned into a gorgeous tropical garden. Caribelle Batik also has a workshop there where they make batik cloth (saris, headscarves, tropical shirts). Batik is kind of like tie-dye only instead of tying the fabric they draw designs on it with wax before they dye it, and some of the work is really beautiful. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing so I ended up buying a bandana with a monkey motif.

Continuing around the loop we stopped at Brimstone Hill, an impregnable colonial era fort built on the top of a tall mountain overlooking the Caribbean Sea. At the north end of the island we also stopped at Black Rocks which are lava formations on the coast that sprout up out of the surf like stalagmites from another planet. The rest of the tour was pretty much just a drive through the countryside, which is covered in sugarcane, some of it is grown by the government but much of it just grows wild. We had the driver pull over so that we could try it, and he came back with so much that we ended up carrying it around with us all day. The locals got a kick out of it as we went around town carrying it into the internet cafe, a local fast-food place, the park. Nothing says "tourist" like a three-foot stick of sugarcane.

Where we are:
Location=St. Kitts
Lat=17 17.538
Lon=62 42.787

Statia

at the top of the volcano

posted by SSB

Statia - The Quill

The dominant geographical feature of Statia is the enormous cone of the Quill, a 1968 foot high volcano that last erupted sometime back in the 1600's and is now considered extinct. Instead of diving while we're here we decided to check out the view from up top so we packed a lunch and set off up the hill. It was a pretty relentless slog upwards. First, just getting to the foot of the cone took about 45 minutes, and that was the easier incline. From there it was another 50 minutes of steady climbing to get to the edge of the crater. But the forest was shady and at times there was a good breeze going, so it wasn't too bad. We saw all kinds of wildlife: snakes, soldier crabs, hummingbirds, feral chickens and tons of lizards. There were also some cool looking bromeliads growing out of practically thin air in the branches of trees. Supposedly the Quill is home to a wide variety of orchids as well, but unfortunately we didn't spot any. The view of the crater was pretty spectacular, it was covered in dense foliage and some of the trees were enormous. We didn't hike down the crater because by this time it was midday and we were so sweaty that practically all we could think about was getting back to the boat and in the water for a swim. Besides, heading back downhill to town was the easy part!

When we got back to the boat we put our snorkels and fins on and did a little more snorkeling around the anchorage. We saw one of the weirdest sea creatures I've ever laid eyes on. It's not in any of our fish identifiers, but I'll describe it in the hopes that somebody knows what it is and can email me. It was maybe as long as my forearm, had a face like a frog, and was using its two front fins almost like hands to dig at the bottom for food. Underneath it's body were spindly legs like a lobsters, and it also had these sort of winglike fins that it dragged behind it but occasionally it would fan them out like a fly. Then it had a tapering tail and it's whole body was covered in sort of iridescent spots, and it had kind of an antenna/lure like thing sticking up off its back. It was scuttling along the bottom, not swimming, and it used its front fins to scare up a small fish, which it then ate. Our divemaster back on Saba was talking about something called a "frogfish" which we didn't see on the dive so it's possible that this was one of them, but I'm not sure. I swear it was one of the ugliest looking things I've ever seen. I wish we'd thought to bring the camera so I could've snapped a photo. It seriously looked like something the editors of the "National Enquirer" would've dreamed up, kind of like the Bat Baby only real.

Statia - America's Childhood Friend

After a couple days relaxing on the boat in Saba we left this morning for Sint Eustatius, another tiny Dutch island about 20 miles southeast. The island is more commonly known as Statia (STAY-sha) and has quite a history. It was once the most prosperous Caribbean island, earning itself the nickname "the Golden Rock". It was a major free port during a time when some countries weren't allowed to trade with each other due to various wars (Spain vs. England, England vs. France, and eventually England vs. the Colonies). So instead Statia became the middleman for commerce, and foreign merchants could buy or sell anything they wanted here. Everyone got rich. But that all changed the day the vessel "Andrew Doria" came into port and fired a salute with her guns. The Statian Governor returned the salute, not realizing until it was too late that it was an American rebel navy ship. So Statia goes down in history as the first sovereign power to recognize the fledgling nation. The British were none too pleased, and retaliated by confiscating all ships and valuables and sacking the island. And, as if they weren't already involved in enough wars, the English also declared war on Holland for good measure.

Anyway, we arrived just ahead of a flash rainstorm (we are getting used to it being completely clear one minute and pouring rain the next), so we waited until it cleared to go check in with immigration. Being Sunday, everyone had gone home for the day so we took a quick tour of the island instead. There's just one town here, Oranjestad, but it has some cool points of interest including Fort Oranje which has been restored and overlooks the bay. The island is still a duty-free port but now there is just one main commodity being traded: oil. Huge tankers lie at anchor in the bay and the northwestern half of the island is completely given over to a dock with a pipeline and big tanks to hold the stuff. The island promotes itself as being ecotouristy, but it is hard to take it seriously when the oilworks take up half the western shoreline.

Where we are:
Location=Statia
Lat=17 28.921
Lon=62 59.475

Amanda Snorkeling in Saba

posted by SSB

Saba Sea Turtle

posted by SSB

Saba

[Kevin's Post]Believe it or not, we picked up another Saba Marine Park mooring yesterday after dragging one a half mile. The water is too deep to anchor without getting really close to the rocky shoreline, so we decided to give the moorings another chance. They're free and I guess you get what you pay for. The one we are on now appears to be screwed into the bottom, we think the one we were on yesterday was just attached to a big concrete block. Today we were going to go back and snorkel the mooring we dragged to see exactly what kind of brilliant design it was, but by the time we got there the park had already removed the mooring ball so nobody else would tie on to it. At least they responded quickly, I have to give them credit for that. They didn't stop by to say 'Hi' or refund our park fees or anything though. I don't think this is the first time this has happened, the park chart shows all the moorings evenly spaced along a straight line north to south, but in reality they are all over the place.

After nearly having our boat smashed to bits, we decided it probably wasn't a good idea to leave the boat unattended on these moorings. We had hoped to hike to the top of the island, but decided it just wasn't worth the worry. If there were some other boats here we might have asked them to keep an eye on Solstice for us. But there is only one other boat, and we dragged right past him yesterday. He either didn't notice or didn't care. So today we just took it easy relaxing on the boat, did some laundry, read, and went for a quick snorkel nearby. The new underwater camera housing works great. We've used underwater disposable cameras before and the pictures always came out really bad. So it is fun to be able to get some decent underwater photos. Most of the pictures are of Amanda though, since everything else swims away. Amanda swims away sometimes too.

Scubamanda

posted by SSB

Saba -- Dive Excursion

Here in Saba, the entire island is surrounded by a Marine Park and you are not allowed to dive without a guide. So yesterday while we were in Windwardside we made arrangements for a dive boat to pick us up and take us on two dives today. The first dive was about 62 feet deep, in an area with lots of patchy corals and some lava rocks. We saw all kinds of sea turtles having lunch on the reef, and we even saw a tiny seahorse clinging to a soft coral. The second dive was a little shallower, but was truly spectacular. We were in wide canyons of coral, with fans and soft corals sticking out everywhere and the place was just teeming with fish. There was even a swim-through passage where you were completely surrounded by walls and a ceiling of coral. The colors were amazing, and Kevin brought the camera along and snapped some great photos, although as you go deeper the color spectrum fades so in some of the photos all the colors wash to blue hues. We'll upload some when we have an internet connection.

When the dive boat returned to our boat we were alarmed to see that the boat was not where we left it! Our hearts stopped. We were still tied to our mooring but it had dragged more than half a mile, literally across the bay! Where the boat ended up was dangerously close to the shore, which was lined with rocks and breaking waves -- we were only about 2 boatlengths (~100 feet) from total disaster. If the boat had dragged any further (and it was still dragging when we got to it) it would've been pounded against the rocks. Luckily the bottom around the island of Saba drops off steeply; we were still in about 20 feet of water. So needless to say we got aboard in a hurry, fired up the engines and dropped the mooring pendant. This is the 2nd time that we have dragged due to a mooring dragging (the other time was in Farmer's Cay, Bahamas). According to the Marine Park handout, these moorings are intended to handle boats up to 60 feet/50 tons. Solstice is a mere 40 feet/7 tons. And it's Murphy's law -- we spend the first 24 hours aboard the boat and we were fine/in the right place according to our GPS/chartplotter. But we leave the boat for less than 6 hours and all of a sudden the boat drags half a mile, even though the wind and swells were considerably calmer than the previous day. It is unbelievable, and we were unbelievably lucky that we didn't lose the boat.

Saba

posted by SSB

Wells Bay, Saba

The Doyle cruising guide puts the Leeward Islands into three categories: "The Renaissance Islands" (Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Barths), "The Islands That Brush the Clouds" (Saba, Statia, St. Kitts/Nevis, Montserrat), and "The Islands of Mountains and Mangroves" (Antigua/Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Iles des Saintes, Dominica). As we approached Saba (SAY-ba) this morning (after a fantastic 30-mile sail. That's right -- look ma, no engines!) we found the guide's description pretty spot on -- the island is an extinct volcano that rises steeply up from the ocean below to the clouds above. There are no beaches here, most of the shoreline is just a spectacularly high wall of volcanic rock. There are also no great anchorages here, as the ocean floor drops off very close to shore, but the country's Marine Park has installed 7 or so moorings for traveling yachts to pick up. After the crowded lagoon in St. Maarten we are now sharing the peaceful anchorage with only four other boats -- we are definitely off the beaten path.

We dinghied in to the tiny harbor to check in with immigration and the marine park (there's a fee to use the park and moorings) and picked up a taxi to take us to the other side of the island. Saba has two main towns: the Bottom, and Windwardside. They are connected by "The Road", as there is pretty much just the one road on the whole island. Prior to 1943 the residents here walked or rode donkeys on small mountain paths. Engineers from Holland surveyed and determined that there was no way a road could be built on the island, but one determined Saban took a mail correspondence class in road construction and over the course of 20 years the road was designed and built by hand. All the locals helped build the thing using cement and wheelbarrows -- no modern equipment. The end result is a twisty, curvy, hair-raising road that is just barely wide enough for two cars. It makes for a pretty dramatic cab right, that's for sure.

Windwardside is a sleepy little town that seems like something out of a foreign film. First of all the island is so small that everyone knows everyone else (there are only 1600 residents), and secondly there must be some sort of town planning committee that only grants building permits to people who want to build quaint stone cottages and gingerbread-like shops. We walked around the town for while and after having a drink at Scout's Pub we decided to head back to the boat and call it a night.

Where we are:
Location=Wells Bay, Saba
Lat=17 38.251
Lon=63 15.425

St. Maarten - Phillipsburg

Underwater Camera

We ran a few more errands this morning (marine store, groceries, picked up laundry, gassed up the dinghy) and after lunch we hopped on a jitney bus over to Phillipsburg to see what there was to do there. Phillipsburg is a huge duty-free shopping destination -- lots of cheap liquor, fancy jewelry, fine perfumes, and electronics. The place was pretty quiet, since there weren't any cruise ships in port, which suited us just fine. We had most of the shops all to ourselves. The main purpose of the trip was to find a decent underwater camera. Kevin's Canon is too nice to take underwater, and my Fujifilm won't take good photos in low light. So we made the rounds of all the electronics stores and found a camera with a watertight housing that we liked. Then of course the real work begins -- you have to bargain with these guys. The first guy quoted us a price and we said "well, we'll think about it" then he knocked $25 off and we said "no, look, really -- we have to think about it. We're going to walk around and talk it over" which of course prompted him to knock another $25 off the price. "Special price for you", he said. Sure. So we hit a couple more stores and Kevin really started getting into it. "Tell you what," he said to one guy, "you keep the carrying case and knock $25 off the price and I'll buy it right now". He drives a hard bargain. After getting all the quotes we ducked into an internet cafe to look the price up on Froogle and realized we were being quoted a slightly better price than what you'd find on the internet. And we wouldn't have to pay shipping and could use it right away. When it's in the waterproof case, the camera actually looks a little like a child's toy, but it should get the job done (can be submerged up to 130 feet) so hopefully we'll soon have some good underwater shots to post.

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

One other highlight (for me, at least) was that in our wanderings we passed a shop called "The Yoda Guy Gallery". Being a total star wars-ophile, I was intrigued and we had to go in to see what it was. The "Yoda Guy" is actually a guy named Nick Maley who worked on the original animatronic Yoda for the Empire Strikes Back (also on the movie "Krull" for any of you children of the early 80's). He retired from the movie business and now sells artwork alongside movie memorabilia. He happened to be in the store at the time and was very personable, giving us a nice spiel about what everything was even though it was clear that we weren't going to buy anything. Plus, he had one of the original animatronic Yoda models on display. How cool is that? Or as the Jedi Master himself would say, "Cool, it is, yes?"

St. Maarten - Diving and Dining

Ready to Dive

While we were in the Virgin Islands we spoke with a couple friends on other boats who have their own scuba gear on board. After spending over $200 to dive the Rhone with a dive shop we realized we'd have a pretty quick ROI if we bought our own equipment. So here in duty-free St. Maarten we've been investigating prices and brands, trying to figure out what we should buy. We headed to the scuba shop and bought everything we'll need except the tanks. We figure somewhere down the road we'll be able to find some used tanks for sale, and the next two islands we want to go to (Saba & St. Eustatius) require you to dive with a guide anyhow so we can just rent the tanks when we get there. Having bought all the gear we rented a couple of tanks and decided to try it out on a very shallow wreck in Simpson Bay. With all our gear set up and loaded into the dinghy, we set off into the bay looking for the buoy marking the wreck of Tugboat Annie. I was up in the bow scanning the water and not seeing any kind of buoy marking; we were worried we wouldn't be able to find it (the clerk at the store gave us a blank look -- she'd never heard of the site). I pointed out a piece of garbage floating in the water, one of those one liter water bottles, and Kevin realized it was tied to something. Sure enough we could see a big dark shadow under the water so it had to be the wreck. It turned out to be a pretty decent dive -- the wreck was resting right side up and there was a swim-through passage through the pilot house. A huge stingray swam around the wreck, keeping an eye on us while we dove, and we saw a little eel peeking out of his home in a piece of pipe. So even though it was a pretty shallow dive (only 20 feet) we had a good time, and it was nice to know that all the equipment worked properly.

Appetizers in Grand Case

In the evening we decided to give the French side another try. We got to Marigot and decided to take a jitney bus over to Grand Case, which Lonely Planet bills as "the gourmet capital of the Caribbean". How could we pass that up? Walking down the main street in Grand Case we could see how the place had earned its nickname. Almost every restaurant was right on the beach with a great view of the ocean and there were places serving everything from West Indian cuisine (barbecue with peas and rice) to fine Italian and French dining. We decided to splurge on one of the really well-reviewed pricier French places: L'Hibiscus. We were one of three American couples there and it was funny to watch the other two couples arrive. Both of them threw our French waitress for a loop: the first couple brought their two year old and were disappointed that the restaurant didn't have a high chair or kids' menu and the wife of the second couple announced that she was lactose intolerant and did the restaurant serve anything without a cream sauce. The waitress got confused and thought the lady specifically requested to eat something with dairy and started listing all the dishes that had cream and butter in them. Meanwhile our appetizer arrived and only in a fancy French restaurant can you order a $10 shrimp appetizer and get only two shrimp. But what an appetizer! First of all, it looked amazing -- the chef had wrapped the shrimp in vermicelli and flash-fried it so that it stuck straight up in the air like a delicate sculpture of pasta (I'll post a photo when we have internet access). And more importantly, it tasted fantastic. As did everything we ordered; Kevin had the roast duck with mango sauce and I had the beef filet with gorgonzola. It was a heavenly meal and a nice dining experience for us considering that the other night I made grilled cheese and baked beans, or as I call it "frommage grillee avec legumes de Boston".

St. Maarten - Goldilocks and the Three Beers

Tiny Heineken

With all our work on the generator done, we decided we'd head over to the French side to do a little sightseeing and sample some French cuisine. We got all dressed up (for us, this means wearing a t-shirt with no stains or holes) and dinghied over to Marigot, the capital on the French side. There was a pretty boardwalk surrounding the marina with lots of shops and restaurants. Only problem was that everything was closed! So much for our fancy french lunch! There was one restaurant open, a creperie, so we had a meal there and ordered beers. Although they were the same price Kevin made the mistake of ordering a Heineken. When the waiter brought out his beer I almost mistook it for a jar of tabasco sauce, it was that tiny! Something like 7.5 ounces. It's surprising because we see everyone drinking Heineken, paying the same price as other beers and getting much less for their money. It made me very curious -- I know Heineken is a premium beer but it's not THAT good. Over lunch we decided that since fate didn't want us to take a day off to sightsee, we would spend the rest of the day running errands so we headed back to the Dutch side of the island.

The first stop was finding a laundry. We found one but of course it was closed on Sundays. Then we stopped by the market to pick up some bread and produce. By the time we got there it was closed, having only been open a few hours in the morning. We were able to fill up some jerry jugs with fuel and water, but by this time it was nearly 5pm and we'd barely accomplished anything. But at least the bars were open so we stopped in at Shrimpy's and ordered beers (both Carib this time). Another boater stepped up to the bar next to us and ordered a Miller lite and a Heineken. Curiosity had gotten the better of me so I asked the bartender why the Heinekens were so small and she said she didn't know, to her it seemed silly to just order a "sip of beer". Then she said "let me show you something" and pulled out a bottle of Presidente (12 oz). Next to the big Presidente our 10 oz Caribs looked like a momma bear portion and the Heinekin was clearly baby bear-sized. I finally solved the mystery when I asked a French guy why the Heinekens were so small. It's very logical really. The Dutch brewers have figured out exactly how much cold beer an average person can drink before it starts getting warm. So smaller bottles means you never end up with warm beer for the last swig. So that mystery is solved, but here's one for you: does Heineken come in bigger bottles in the US because Americans drink faster than the Dutch?

St. Maarten - Done!

Generator in the air

So have I mentioned that my husband rocks? Well, he does. The new oilpan arrived here on Thursday morning and since then we have been working from dawn til dusk fixing the generator. Kevin has been the brains (and brawn) behind the entire operation -- first tearing out and re-installing the mylar/foam insulation in the locker (the old stuff was torn to shreds and making a mess), then building a new mounting system for the generator out of marine lumber (which is like plastic and doesn't absorb water -- the previous owner mounted the generator on a piece of plain ol' plywood, which got saturated with saltwater and is why the oilpan got rusty in the first place), and finally hoisting the generator and putting the oilpan back on and then guiding it into the locker and attaching it to the motor mounts. And of course today he spent another ten hours just reconnecting all the hoses and electrical wiring. So this evening at 5pm it was showtime and after a few false starts (air was in the fuel line) the thing roared to life and we were back in business. Now we can charge the batteries on cloudless/windless days, run the air conditioning, do laundry on the boat, have hot water whenever we want -- basically all the things most other cruisers live without but hey, we like our creature comforts!

We still have yet to see much of St. Maarten but this was a pretty big project and it is good to get it finished. We plan to do a little sightseeing sometime in the next couple of days. So this has probably been a boring week for those of you reading the blog, but for us it has been a lot of blood (did I mention I got a small shard of metal embedded in my foot? Glad I got that tetanus shot before we left), sweat (all of the work was done outside, baking in the tropical sun), and tears (of joy, that is. Because it is finally done!). Time for a rum drink.

St. Maarten -- A Little History

For those of you who are interested in such things, I thought you might want to know a few facts about the island. At 37 square miles it is the smallest island in the world to be divided by two countries. The larger northern territory is a foreign department of France while the south half of the island is Dutch and was once part of the Netherlands Antilles but according to Lonely Planet is now an independent country in its own right within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Confusing, isn't it? Local legend has it that when the two countries divided the island they each sent a man to march in opposite directions around the coast of the island. Wherever they met up, that would be where they drew the line across. The story goes that the Frenchman quenched his thirst with wine while walking but the Dutchman drank gin instead and got so drunk he had to stop to sleep it off, which is why the French have the larger area.

As is the case with almost every island in the Caribbean, the first inhabitants here were Arawak Indians, followed by the cannibalistic Carib Indians, who tended to attack the peaceful Arawaks and enslave their women and children. Then Columbus came in 1493 and put the kibosh on that, conquering both tribes and enslaving everyone. Over time, pirates of various nationalities called this place home until the Dutch founded a settlement here in the 1600s. The Spanish didn't like that and immediately kicked the inhabitants out, so Peter Stuyvesant (who later became governor of New Amsterdam/New York) and some Dutch and French colonists fought back but were not successful. Poor Peter lost his leg, earning him the nickname "Pegleg". (I am not making this up). Unbelievably, the Spanish government rewarded the Spanish soldiers by giving them permission to leave the island, and a few of their Dutch and French prisoners got left behind to settle the island again. So if the Dutch had just bided their time they could've avoided the bloodshed and just waited until the Spanish got bored and left. I'm sure Peter Stuyvesant was kicking himself over that mistake (with his good leg, of course).

The 1600s also brought slavery to St. Martin, and the plantation system was in effect until the late 1800's (slavery was abolished in 1848 on the French side, 1863 on the Dutch). Interestingly, in 1918 the Dutch side asked to become part of the United States but that never materialized and the place was pretty quiet until after WWII (during which the Nazis overtook the Dutch side of the island), when an airport was built and tourism started picking up. So now French, Dutch, Spanish, German, and American tourists are able to congregate together in a spirit of international peace and harmony on Orient Beach (the island's clothing-optional, and most popular, beach).